Breaking News – Newsletter for March 2, 2011

NEW DELHI – Union Minister of Culture Kumari Selja Tuesday said her ministry was working on a proposal to set up five new regional centres of the prestigious National School of Drama (NSD) at Bengaluru and Kolkata and in Maharashtra/Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast.

NEW DELHI – A Delhi court on Tuesday sent former Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee (OC) Chairman Suresh Kalmadi’s key aides Lalit Bhanot and V.K. Verma to Tihar Jail under 14-day judicial custody in connection with financial irregularities in a contract with a Swiss company.

LAHORE – Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will continue to play democratic role in Punjab.

During his interaction with Punjab Governor Latif Khosa and Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Karchi, Zardari said the PPP did not believe in ‘lotacracy’. (term used to describe how Pakistani politicians had a … Read more : Zardari says PPP will play democratic role in Pak Punjab.

LAHORE – Raja Riaz, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader in Punjab has claimed that his party has “documentary proof” of the so-called “good governance” of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and will bring facts before the people.

CHABUA – The Indian Air Force Tuesday inducted a second squadron of its frontline Sukhoi-SU30 combat jets in the northeast as part of a strategic deployment of advanced assets close to the Chinese border, an officer said.

NEW DELHI – The Chinese labour authority is trying to delay the retirement age for women, according to a top official report.

The document, which was issued by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said the possible change to women’s retirement age may be done alongside other improvements to the rights of working women, reports …. Source : China mulls delaying women’s retirement age.

NEW DELHI – The Australia-India Institute today announced its new programme with Indian NGO Asha and the Nossal Institute for Global Health called A New India-Australia Partnership to Support the Aspirations of Delhi’s Urban Poor.

WASHINGTON – The United States is reportedly developing a new technology to safeguard its ports from being attacked by terrorists and smugglers.

America, which is the global hub of commerce, receives goods from all over the world. Over 11 million cargo containers enter the United States each year, but the real danger lies below the …. Source : Gaea News Network.

NEW YORK – Amid unrest in Libya, where on one side the United Nations has condemned the Muammar al-Qaddafi regime for its crackdown on pro-democracy protestors, the organisation’s Human Rights Council is poised adopt a report praising the oil rich country for its human rights records.

KARACHI – Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder-leader Altaf Hussain has called upon the Pakistan Army to save the beleaguered country.

Making a telephonic address from London at the 24th foundation day of the MQM Labour Division, Altaf said he was inviting the army to save Pakistan, and stressed that he had never met the army generals … Read more »»».

WASHINGTON – Pakistan’s financial managers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission are set to start the much-awaited fifth review of the economy on Tuesday (today), upon whose successful completion Pakistan would receive 3.6 billion dollars- the remaining portion of the 11.3-billion-dollar Stand-By-Arrangement (SBA).

WASHINGTON – Most participants of the US-Pakistan Leaders Forum, which was convened by the US-Muslim Engagement Initiative- a non-governmental, non-partisan collaboration of four US-based organizations, agreed that the Pakistani media was “guilty of churning out a steady diet of anti-American conspiracy theories and rhetoric,” noted South Asian affairs analyst Lisa Curtis has said.

NEW DELHI – External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday said the vacuation of Indians from strife-torn Libya is going on smoothly, and added that over 3,500 people would have returned home by Wednesday.

NEW DELHI – The Indian Air Force (IAF) is ready to evacuate, if called on to do so, the Indians stranded in Libya by the violent anti-government protests in the north African country, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Tuesday.

IMPHAL – The Central Government is leaving no stones unturned in its effort to develop the northeastern region. Recently it excluded Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram from the protected area permit to promote tourism in the region.